Katie soon learned there was a problem with hope.

On some days she was able to see both sun and moon at the same time. Like feuding cousins, they hung in two corners of the vast world-ceiling refusing to look at one another. The moon was always harder to spot and more faded, but it was there if you looked, as many things were.

For no real reason – well, perhaps because of the seriousness under the trees or Nader’s hair, which was very messy and covered in little grass seeds – Katie began to giggle. She knew it was wrong, yet it was also natural. She covered her mouth with both hands, but Nader was already pale with revulsion. He turned and marched away into unwanted sunlight, leaving her to wonder why bad things happened and why no good person prevented them.

All the best writers take risks, offend people often and say fuck you to the critics.

When I write, I try to represent the voices of people I've known who had no voice.

Writing Skinny Chris was a very odd process – it felt like I had brought back to life a dead man and then killed him again.